Kris Kristofferson narrates and the late Gardner McKay co-scripted this story of a journey to "the Roof of the World" by world-renowned flutist Paul Horn and Maui's own Lama Tenzin. His Holiness the Dalai Lama is also featured in this award-winning documentary, filmed on two harrowing visits to Chinese-occupied Tibet.

The first occasion was inspired by Lama Tenzin's wish to return to the homeland he had fled as a 22-year-old Buddhist monk. Tibet has changed dramatically since the Chinese invasion of 1949, and not for the better: an estimated 1.2 million Tibetans have died and all but 13 of the country's 6,000 monasteries have been destroyed. Yet Lama Tenzin had reason to risk a return: to find his family he had not seen in more than 40 years.

"As we entered Tibet . . . we were very conscious of the danger," recounts Paul Horn. "Refugees advised Lama Tenzin to wear western clothes and not to speak Tibetan in public. We were not to mention our plans to film a documentary. Several weeks earlier, a Tibetan had been sentenced to 18 years in prison for videotaping local folk dancers."

Horn's own quest was to play his flute in the legendary Potala Palace, an architectural marvel built in the 1600's, and once the winter home of the Dalai Lamas.

Sacred Tibet chronicles the realization of these dreams, and after Lama Tenzin's death, follows the 71-year-old Horn on a second journey; a pilgrimage around Mt. Kailash, a holy place venerated by four religions and billions of people, yet visited by only a hardy few. Horn brings us along, amid peaks and passes 15,000 to 19,000 feet high, in honor of his friend. The program ends with His Holiness the Dali Lama commenting on Tibet and the current situation under Chinese rule.